Silk-screen printers which incorporate a reciprocatingly movable squeegee arrangement adapted to effect printing in both directions are known to the art, and as an example of the earlier known technology in this respect reference is made to the arrangement described and illustrated in German Lay-Out print No. 1 561 112.
This lay-out print describes a method of making an initial compensation for the expected total stencil stretch during a printing operation, and to permit this compensation the stencil frame or the printing table is provided with guide means. The stencil frame is arranged to be displaced axially with the aid of a mechanical device, to an extent corresponding to the total amount of stencil stretch expected, and is held firmly in this position.
Thus, there is afforded the possibility of carrying out a printing sequence in each direction of movement of the squeegee arrangement, while at the same time making the necessary, although albeit inexact compensation for stencil stretch.
The present invention can be said to take its starting point from the fundamental principles disclosed in the aforesaid German Lay-Out Print.
A silk-screen printer capable of working in accordance with the basic principles of the present invention, however, requires a further combination stage.